The NHL is withdrawing from the Olympics:
Huh. I’d heard about that revision, but I thought it was just with NYC data, not over the whole country.
Israel recommends a fourth dose of the vaccine for people 60 and over.
More than three months on, Israeli health officials say the data is clear: Booster shots helped bring down the fourth wave of the virus that swept the country in August and September.
However, three doses appear to not be enough, with Tuesday’s announcement marking the t> hroes of a fifth wave.
The total number of new Covid cases in Israel topped 1,300 on Monday, a figure not reached since the middle of October.
Meanwhile, the country’s R coefficient – the number of people infected by each person with Covid-19 – jumped to 1.28, its highest level since early August, when Israel was in the height of the fourth wave.
I’m confused. I thought the data showed that fully-vaxxed-including-booster was enough to prevent most serious cases of the Omicron variant.
Does this mean the effectiveness of the booster wanes after several months? Does it mean we’re all going to need another booster soon?
British Columbia:
Perhaps they’ll have the omicron-specific vaccine available by then.
In the meantime, that guy who got the dozen proxy shots in one day must be feeling very safe now. I wonder what his side-effects were like.
Israel is rolling out a fourth shot, so I expect we’ll follow suit before long.
Cross-posted from the Omicron thread - see this post.
Early scientific research in both the UK and South Africa suggests that Omicron results in milder illness, and leads to far lower hospitalization rates.
This astonishes me. Given the rate of spread of Omicron, that’s like… thinking about shutting the stable door as you watch the horse disappear into the distance. Add to that the fact that it’s a plan that comes into effect after Xmas and New Year gatherings…
j
Thanks for that, it looks very interesting.
One thing I note is that in that pre-print it states…
Some of this reducton is likely a result of high population immunity.
Which could mean that how many people were infected with what variants previously may be key. However, unless SA was riddled with a variant that never reached outside it’s borders then such population immunity would likely be as a result of common variants and vaccinations in much the same way as the rest of the world so age-adjusted risks could be comparable.
I look forward to seeing that UK-specific analysis soon as well. Fingers crossed, but if that breaking story is to be believed it still looks like that additional pressure may be placed on the health service in the short term.
What will be fascinating is how this upside/downside story gets reported and received. A sigh of relief and a general move away from restriction adherence?
It’s summer there, and the population is different from the US. For instance, the average age is 27
And their testing positivity rate is still high. But anecdotally, vaccines look protective
Most of the patients currently being treated for COVID-19 in hospitals are unvaccinated, Uekermann emphasized. About 40% of adult South Africans have been inoculated with two doses.
“All my patients in ICU are unvaccinated,” Uekermann said. “So our vaccinated people are doing better in this wave, for sure. We have got some patients who are very ill with severe COVID, and these are unvaccinated patients.”
I think this has been a very positive aspect that gets missed amongst the figures of lowered vaccination protection against infection.
The fact remains that double-dosed people still retain a large amount of protection against severe illness and death. Step up to a booster and it is even better and protection against symptomatic infection is up above 75% again.
In the UK I’ve not seen the hard figures for omicron hospitalisation but anecdotally the general protection afforded by vaccines remains high.
Michael Bartley, a critical care matron at King’s, estimated that “80 to 90%” in the hospital’s critical care beds were unvaccinated.
That’s great but…I have to say that if vaccines from pharma companies are looked upon with suspicion by some, how much greater will that be for a military vaccine?
That’s going to be a tough sell. (for some…not me, science is science)
DC has hit a new record high (seven day average from Johns Hopkins site) of 1230 yesterday, and is still skyrocketing upward
New York has a new record of 24,237 cases
Puerto Rico has a new record high of 1946 as of yesterday, and is also skyrocketing up.
Other states are going up, but the only one that looks poised to set a new record is Hawaii, which is climbing rapidly and has 807 cases as of yesterday, below the record high of 921 set on August 20.
Interesting but not a surprise, really (IMO):
Can’t find anything online yet but NBC News Radio is reporting Mayor de Blasio has announced that there will be a NYE celebration in Times Square but with some adjustments. No specifics yet as to what those adjustments will be, other than participants will have to show proof of vaccination.
That’s a good point. I wonder if the more conservative “vaccine hesitant” crowd would be more confident in a military vaccine. Would those in the National Guard be less hesitant?
Here’s some news:
Potentially good news, everyone!
China is not fucking around: